Shadow Of Betrayal (Margot Harris 4)

“Could it? Yeah, it could, but I don’t know that it did.”

“Speaking of the case, besides bringing you bad news you already have, I wanted to ask you if you got an email from Stick.”

“No, I checked this morning, nothing.”

“Huh, he usually contacts the client daily and then sends me an update.”

“I hadn’t talked to him since I hired him.”

“Damn, I was hoping this might shed some light on the situation. Normally, he gets that kind of thing done ASAP.”

“Anybody check his phone?”

“The cops might have, but he would have used his laptop anyway. He didn’t like to send emails to clients on his phone.”

“Nothing on that?”

“Cops have that too. If they found anything, they didn’t tell me.”

Margot thought on that for a second and then said, “He knew he was working for my sister even though I hired him. Maybe he sent it to her. I could ask.”

“I’d appreciate that. Let me know what it says, if you can. He was kind of fired up about this one. He thought he had something but never got a chance to tell anybody what.”

“As soon as I know something, you’ll know it too.”

“Thanks, Margot.”

“No problem.”

Margot was getting ready to dial her sister when she saw a spry looking Mr. Jones head into the gym. Margot kept the phone with her as she followed him inside. Talking to her sister would have to wait. She had money to make.

Chapter 4

Besides getting a nice hour of cardio and strength training, Margot learned Mr. Jones was there seeing a physical therapist, trying to get his back to a place where he could work again. He was pretty much the opposite of what the company assumed he would be. This would be good for Mr. Jones, but not so much for Margot. She’d get paid for her time, but they didn’t pay her to find out that people deserved their settlement money.

Margot called her sister on the way back to the car.

“Hey, did you get an email from Stick yesterday?”

“Who?”

“Mr. Stickly, the detective I hired for you.”

“No, I don’t think so. I thought he’d be talking to you and then you’d pass it on to me, which is why it was weird when he called me.”

“He called you when? What did he say?”

“Um, it was yesterday, late morning, I guess. I almost didn’t answer because I didn’t recognize the number. He just asked me about Randy’s phone.”

“What about Randy’s phone?”

“What brand and who was his service provider. I thought it was kind of weird. He had the phone number, so what did all that other stuff matter?”

Margot wasn’t sure either. People could be tracked by their cell phones, but it usually wasn’t something a private detective had the resources to pull off.

“You know, I didn’t even know he had my number,” Melanie said.

“I gave it to him. He knew he was doing this for you even though I’m named as the client. I would have no idea what brand phone Randy uses, so it made sense for him to call you.”